Full fashioned knitting machine



Aug. 22, 1933. K. R. LIEBERKNECHT FULL FAShIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed May 26, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l B INVENOR E flfo-u, "Z W BY "ITORN Aug. 22, 1933. K. RLIEBERKNECHT 5 FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed Ma 26, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I w ATTQ NEZIS Patented Aug. 22-, 1933 I 15923545 UNITED STATE-S PATENT OFFICE FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE- Karl Richard Lieberknecht, Oberlung'witz, Germany, assignor to Kalio Inc., New York, N. Y., a Corporation of New York Application May 26, 1932, Serial No. 613,597, and

in Germany April 4, 1932 Claims. (Cl. (iii-82) This invention relates to full fashioned knitother cams as desired may be positioned close ting machines particularly of the Cotton type. to the parts to which power is to be applied. g, Its primary object is the provision of a new One form of my invention is illustrated by the and improved mechanism for the operation of accompanying drawings in which 5 the slur cocks, thread carriers, and other parts Figure 1 .is a partial plan view of a flat knit 6 requiring a reciprocating motion, which is simtingmachine equipped with my invention; ple, effective, and inexpensive; and which. may Fig. 2 is a similar front elevation of the same be duplicated as many times as desired in the ac various knitting units fhi h th .machine is Fig. 3 is a cross-section at line AA of Fig. 2; v composed without introducing troublesome com- 4 is a Cross-Section at line plications or involving much expense; and, Figs. 5 and Bare a diagrammatic side ele-J Up to the present time flat knitting ma hines, vation and end elevation, respectively, of one and particularly those, of the Cotton type, have m of 0am and 0a roller which may be embeen provided with a coulier motion whereby p y d in my ion. the rotary motion of a cam shaft is translated The machine is provided with he usual main. into the reciprocating motion required by the cam Shaft In addition, it has an auxiliary slur cocks and thr ad a i r cam shaft 1, preferably positioned as heretofore The coulier motion i ll known for these suggested at the back of the machine where the purposes and comprises essentially a short shaft majority of the Parts Operated from it I919 positioned at right angles t th main cam shaft cated, .and driven from the main cam shaft in and driven therefrom through bevel gears and any suitable Way, Such as by Sprockets 3 and 5 h i g fixed thereon a coulier cam which and chain 4. The speed of auxiliary shaft 1 operates with a suitable pitman and connectshould f that of the main ms ing rod, t tt ulthnately connecting with shaft 2, as is now the case with the usual coulier 25 th l cocks and thread -m Ordinarily shaft, to secure one complete operative cycle of single n motion is provided positioned the parts controlled from the auxiliary shaft for approximately midway t length of the each two revolutions of the main cam shaft 2. chine, and from it the movement of even the Upon auxiliary camshaft 115 fixed the coulier most remote Sections of the machine is com cam 6which imparts reciprocatory motionto pittmuei man 9 through engagement with rollers f7 and 8 35 It has been suggested that the coulier cam carried Q The uppelfgnd of 9 shaft might be provided with several cams for provided wlth rack 10 whlch engages wlth the the Several reciprocate movements required pinion 11 keyed to a shaft 13 ,mourited in suitbut this would be impossible without increasing able bearings upon the frame of h machin.e by 9 the width of the machine to provide space for means of a. bracket 13. Shaft 13 also carriesa 0 a longer shaft and would not eliminate the unsecond pinion which meshes with a rack 14 desirable feature that the power is applied to g d to 15 by w q the slur cqcks are various-parts which must operate with extreme earned Rotatlon of cuher.cam 6 Wm thus accuracy from a point more or less remote. The cause slur cock rack 14 to reclproca'te back t Suggestion has also been advanced that this last forth once for each two revolutions of the mam difliculty might be overcome by equipping the shaft uli d machine with several coulier motions, each convi 8 many 00 er as deslre may P trolling one or more sections of the machine. ded on auxflla'ry Shaft 1 so that the apphca" tion of power to the slur cocks of the various Two serious ob ections to this idea are the large I J expense and lack of space. sections of the machines may be centrahzed or By means of. my invention 1 solve these probg ggg as close to the Operatmg parts as delems in a. relatively inexpensive and most con- Similarly I provide n the m auxiliary .Y manger by e t the f f cam shaft means for imparting a reciprocating 50 el gear coulier motion entirely and providing a motion to the main thread carrier rods This special auxiliary cam shaft running the entire consists of cam: 1 a pitman 19 il t length of e machine and positioned prefe a coulier pitman 9, and provided with similar rollat the back o t e machine Where ample Space is ers 17 and 18, and a rack 20. Rack 20 engages available without disturbing other mechanisms. with pinion 21 on short shaft 23 which also car- 55 Upon this as many coulier cams and as many ries pinion 22. This pinion meshes with rack 24 attached to rod 25 which carries the friction boxes25 of the main thread carrier rods. As in the case of the coulier motion, rotation of cam 16 causes the main thread carrier rod to reciprocate in the well known manner. Additional cams may be provided on auxiliary cam shaft 1 for operating other reciprocating parts. For example, in the machine illustrated in the drawings, cams 26 and 27 are employed to impart reciprocating motion to thread carrier rods which travel less than the full width of the fabric. Cam 26 functions through lever 28 and link 30 to operate bell crank 32, which in turn re'ciprocates friction rod 34 which carries the auxiliary thread carrier friction box 34. Similarly, cam 27 functions. through lever 29, link 31, and bell crank 32 to oscillate friction rod 35 carrying friction boxes 35 The actual length of travel of carrier rods having less than full width stroke may be varied by providing the carrier cams with wide tapered faces by means of which a greater or lesser amount of movement may be given to the connecting parts and consequently to the thread carriers by shifting the follower rollers to different sections of the cam faces. This may be clone automatically from the narrowing mechanism, manually or in any other desired way. A suitable cam of this sort is shown at 40 in Fig. 5 having a tapered cam surface 41 which coacts with cam roller 42 to rock operating lever 30. If desired, this sort of cam may be substituted for cams 26 and 27 (Fig. 2). The amount of rock imparted to arm 30 may be varied by manually sliding roller 42 on shaft 43 by any suitable means, such as forked arm 44, to the proper part of the cam surface and fastening it there by nut 46. Shaft 47, which like shaft 42 is fixed tolever 30, serves as a guide for the roller and arm 44 and also cooperates with nut 46 to lock the roller at the desired point.

The several motions obtained, as described, from auxiliary cam shaft 1 are used only during the knitting cycle. During the narrowing operation they must not occur. Consequently a clutch mechanism must be provided whereby auxiliary cam shaft 1 will be thrown out of action during the narrowing operation. For example, gear 3 may be loosely mounted on main cam shaft 2, means (such as a holder 36) being provided to prevent longitudinal movement. From the side of gear 3projects a pin 37 adapted to engage with-a pin 38 on the main cam shaft 2. When these two pins are engaged gear 3 is locked to cam shaft 2 and will be driven thereby. When narrowing is to take place gear 3 is released from cam shaft 2 bydisengaging pins 3'7 and 38 through the automatic longitudinal shifting to the left of cam shaft 2, which may be accomplished by well known means, such as shogging cams.

By this invention reciprocating motion for as many parts as desired may be obtained from a single auxiliary cam shaft and the generating mechanism may be positioned on,this shaft in the locations most convenient and desirable for their respective purposes. The difiiculties resulting from thelocation of operating cams at remote points (as in the case of the usual single coulier motion) are eliminated and a much more convenient, flexible and generally improved mechanical arrangement is made possible without altering or disturbing the arrangement of other parts or enlarging the machine and at relatively low cost.

In-addition, the use of separate mechanisms for operating the slur cocks of the main and reinforcing thread carriers instead of operating all of these parts from a single coulier cam, as is the present common practice, makes it possible to operate each of these parts at a different speed from the others which is sometimes advantageous. The description heretofore given has been limited for the sake of brevity to a single mechanism for each of the motions which of course would provide for but a single speed for each one.

What I seek to secure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A flat knitting machine having a main cam shaft and an auxiliary cam shaft, said auxiliary cam shaft having a cam thereon, a pitman engaging with said cam, a rack on said pitman, a pinion shaft, a pinion thereon meshing with said pitman rack, a second pinion on said pinion shaft, a slur cook, a rack associated with said slur cock and meshing with said second pinion, and'means for rotating said auxiliary cam shaft at half the speed of the main cam shaft.

2. A flat knitting machine having a main cam shaft and an auxiliary cam shaft, a cam on said auxiliary cam shaft, a cam roller engaging said cam, a bell crank, a friction rod and a link connecting said roller to one arm of the bell crank, the other arm of which engages with the friction rod.

3. A flat knitting machine having a main cam shaft and an auxiliary cam shaft, a plurality of cams on said auxiliary cam shaft, an equal number of cam rollers one engaging each cam, a bell crank, a friction rod and a link connecting each roller to one arm of the bell crank, the other arm of which engages with the friction rod.

4. A fiat knitting machine having slur cocks, main thread carriers, reinforcing thread carriers and an auxiliary cam shaft parallel to the main cam shaft provided with separate cams for operating the slur cocks, main thread carriers and reinforcing thread carriers, means for rotating said auxiliary cam shaft at half the speed of the main cam shaft, and means for disengaging said auxiliary cam shaft from its driving means.

5. A fiat knitting machine having slur cocks,

.main thread carriers and reinforcing thread 

